Estonia is one of the main destinations of migrating Woodcock, during the spring and summer seasons. Estonia is also one of the main routes of the woodcock migrating from Finland and northern Russia to southern Europe.

Woodcock densities often vary throughout the season until the end of September with the woodcock that are bred mainly in Estonia itself. The second part of October has usually 2 or 3 movements of woodcock from northern Finland and Russia, in these woodcock movements, the density increases significantly over a period of 2 to 3 days per movement.

Usually, there can be seen about 10 different woodcock per day although during the days of movement there could be seen between 30 and 40 woodcock per day.

Woodcock may be hunted from early August to mid November however the best times for hunting are October to mid-November, when woodcock that having been raised in Estonia are also gathering with the migration.

The hunting of woodcock is done with dogs which usually are brought to Estonia by air transport.

The seasons’ first arrivals of woodcock to Estonia occur in early April coming from Southern Europe en route to Finland and Russia . It is estimated that 50,000 pairs of woodcock will choose Estonia for breeding grounds.

Mid-September is when the woodcock begins to return to Southern Europe. In early October woodcock are already in heavy concentration mainly in the inland areas of Estonia. From mid-October onward, when temperatures drop, the heaviest concentrations of woodcock are found at the islands and the coastal areas.

Our hunt begins around 9 am and lasts until 5 pm. The local guide takes the hunter and dogs to the hunting area and explains the ground they have to cover. Usually, there are two zones per day. The first zone is for the morning hunt and then move to the second zone for the afternoon hunt.

The areas chosen are always those that have historically produced higher densities and the hunter will have the opportunity to visit several areas during his stay.
It is recommended that you come equipped with a GPS to avoid disorientation in the forest which always entails the unnecessary loss of time. Alternatively, you may hire one of our guides for assistance.

Since Estonia is a member of the European Union and the Schengen Area you can carry your woodcocks to your home country without problems, either by air or land.

The hunting areas located in the mainland usually have better densities than the islands until the third week of October, from that point temperatures drop and woodcock usually seek areas with warmer temperatures usually in the Islands and seashores.

Transporting dogs is by land or air. Usually groups of up to 2 hunters can transport by plane with one dog per hunter. If the hunting group is large it can be divided into several planes or transported by vehicle.

For those hunters with a large number of dogs road transport is recommended.

We encourage and advocate sustainable hunting of woodcock. We are very sensitive to the problem of excessive hunting and therefore ask all hunters to respect our measures for sustainable hunting. Daily quotas are not imposed and we hope that hunters will perform with common sense and avoid overkill.
Please remember that if you do not hunt your limit of woodcock during the season in Estonia there is still the opportunity, a couple of months later, in your country.